Tag: horror

I’m not sure where this month has gone. I’ve been meaning to write this post all year. Better late than never.

2016 was an amazing year for my productivity. I wrote ten short stories (more than ever in a single year!), made some good headway into my previously-languishing novel, and sent out 120 submissions. That’s about three times as many as the previous year. As a result of all that writing and submitting, I have more current subs out than I’ve ever had at once, which makes me feel like I’m doing this writing thing properly.

I also had four publications: two originals and two reprints, which is nice and symmetrical. My stories ‘Her Glimmering Facade’ and ‘Candy Comfort’ appeared in Deep Magic and Daily Science Fiction respectively. ‘Daddy’s Girl’ was reissued in glorious audio form at The Overcast, while ‘Rule of Five’ had its third publication in the all-female horror anthology Killing It Softly.

‘Candy Comfort’ and ‘Her Glimmering Facade’ are both awards eligible this year. If you’re reading for awards, I’d love you to consider them. ‘Candy Comfort’ is available to read for free via the link above, and as ‘Facade’ is behind a paywall, I’d be happy to send a copy to anyone who’s planning to vote. Just let me know in the comments.

2017 is off to a good start, as I’ve already written four flash stories and sent out thirteen subs. Let’s start as we mean to go on!

Wow, I seem to be all about the promo at the moment. I’m certainly not complaining that I’ve been able to announce a new publication for three consecutive months. That is fricking awesome. *grin* But I always intended this blog to contain other stuff too… writerly ramblings, pedantry, geekiness.

I’ll get back to that stuff. Promise.

But in the meantime, Killing It Softly, the all-female horror anthology featuring my story, ‘Rule of Five’, is now out!

This is my fifteenth fiction publication. Fifteen. *checks again to be sure* Yep. Amazing. It’s my second anthology sale. And it’s the third time ‘Rule of Five’ has been published. That little story has certainly done me proud. As I’ve mentioned before, it was the first story I ever sold. I love the fact that it’s still with me now, making sales and getting promoted, like a faithful friend along for the ride.

This is a story about OCD, a term that is bandied about far too often with complete disregard for its real implications. Having particular standards isn’t OCD. Liking things a certain way isn’t OCD. That ‘D’ stands for ‘disorder’, and those things are not disorders. If this story in any way manages to shed some light on what it feels like to have obsessive compulsive disorder, I’m happy.

It’s also scary. It is a horror story, after all.

And in the lead-up to Halloween, the Kindle version of the anthology is available for only 99 cents! After that, it goes up to $5.99, so I highly recommend grabbing a terrific bargain while you can. There are 32 stories here, written by some amazingly talented women. All for 99 cents, people. What are you waiting for?

It’s time to get spooky. Snuggle up on the couch, keep the lights on, and get reading.

My first-ever audio publication is now out at Pseudopod! ‘Rule of Five’ is a psychological horror piece that explores the stress and pressure of living with OCD. It was first published in Bete Noire in May 2012. I was really looking forward to hearing it read aloud, and the podcast’s presenter, Alasdair Stuart, has done a marvellous job. He thoroughly delivers the menacing, creepy aspect of the story and I found the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as I listened (even though I kinda know how the story progresses…). He finishes the podcast with a personal anecdote that sums the whole thing up perfectly and absolutely nails the point I intended to make with this story.

All in all, I’m really impressed with how it turned out and delighted that I now get to share this story with a wider market. It’s free to download or stream through the site, so go and listen or load it onto your MP3 player to while away a journey to work. If you enjoy it, consider throwing Pseudopod a donation to keep up their great work. They’re an excellent market for reprints as well as new stories, and everything I’ve heard from them so far has been a top notch production.

My very first piece of published fiction was my psychological horror story, ‘Rule of Five’, which appeared in Bete Noire in May 2012. Oddly enough, horror isn’t normally my genre of choice. I’m too much of a wimp. I read the occasional short horror story, write even fewer of them, and hardly ever watch horror movies. I do enjoy fiction with a dark edge, but full-on horror rarely appeals. My imagination is just too damned active to allow me to enjoy jolts of harmless fear.

So, naturally, my first fiction success finds its home with a horror market. (Maybe I should write more horror…)

Anyway, this story is not only my first fiction sale, it’s now officially my first fiction resale! On top of that, it’ll also be my first audio publication, as I’ve recently sold it again to Pseudopod, the wonderfully twisted podcast magazine. This story’s previous publication is only available in print format, so I’m really looking forward to sharing the audio version when it comes out. Watch this space.

In other gleeful publishing news, my friend Emma Osborne (the Superpoet) has a sci-fi poem featured in the current issue of Apex Magazine. It’s stupendous and beautiful and deserves a shout out, so go and read it for free here: Crashdown.